


some lines never touch (but we do, we do, we do)

by liveonanon



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Car Accidents, Cooking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Food, Gen, Hamburger Date, Hamburgers, Insomnia, M/M, Miscommunication, Pining, Studying, The Talk, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Worry, sneaky Kuroko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 17:19:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liveonanon/pseuds/liveonanon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Kuroko knew Kagami said, "I love you", and one time he went ahead and said it.  Now including Kagami's tasty hamburgers, fanboy- and fangirl-peanut gallery, various GoM members giving Kagami The Talk, insomnia, and near traffic accidents.  And sneaky Kuroko.</p>
            </blockquote>





	some lines never touch (but we do, we do, we do)

**Author's Note:**

> I usually don't write 5 + 1 stories, but this one hit me in the head pretty hard. I hadn't indulged in my usual KagaKuro pairing for a while, so I figured this might be in order before I lose touch with it.

some lines never touch (but we do, we do, we do)  
[2013.10.28]

1\. 

"Here," Kagami plopped a brown paper bag in front of Kuroko.

Gingerly Kuroko opened it. The smell of hamburger floated up, and despite himself Kuroko's stomach growled. When he looked up again Kagami was trying not to smile, but his abortive coughing gave it away. Choosing to forego that particular indignity, he reached in and pulled it out.

The hamburger inside wasn't Maji Burger's regular cheeseburger; the wrapper proclaimed it as the special White Diamond hamburger that was only being sold for one day during Maji Burger's hamburger festival week. It certainly looked good; the patty was thicker than usual, the cheese gooey but not in the cheap way, the bread thick and almost ciabatta-ish. There were no onions, which Kuroko approved of, and most of all, there was thick heaping of lettuce and tomato on top, he hated it when hamburgers didn't have enough vegetables -

"Oh," Kagami said, and plucked the hamburger away. "That one's mine. Yours is inside."

Miffed now, but still willing to give Kagami the benefit of the doubt (not that he noticed; the moment the hamburger was in his hand, his attention was affixed on it), Kuroko continued to dig through the bag. And then the bag next to it. Soon there was a pile of identical White Diamond hamburgers on the bench - the people in line after Kagami had to be crying, because it was an as-supply-lasts item - and nothing else.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko said slowly, "they're all the same."

Kagami paused mid-chew, cheeks bulging as the cogs in his brain cranked and turned. Then the lightbulb went on. "Got it! Was fooling around back home with flavors and stuff and..." he mumbled through a mouthful of food - Kuroko winced inwardly - and tore through his backpack. He came up with a plain tupperware that clearly had another White Diamond burger in it. "Here!" He shoved it at Kuroko.

Looking at it in his lap, he didn't detect anything different about it. Maybe it was a little more slippery because of extra sauce or something. Mystified, he glanced at Kagami, but his redheaded partner seemed to be off in happy guzzling land, paying not a whit of attention to him.

And then Kuroko bit into the hamburger.

 _What is this_ , was his first thought. This was not a Maji Burger. This was not _any_ chain hamburger. It was definitely above and beyond that. The patty was juicy and very fresh, the lettuce crisp as if someone had just gathered it off the field, the bread fluffy yet firm. Kuroko could see little seeds in it, maybe rye or whole wheat. Tomato juice dribbled down his chin before he could stop it, but he didn't care.

And then the sauce kicked him in the face. It started sweet and happy and slowly became tangy and sultry, dancing merrily on his tongue, and he had thought Kagami's food was good when he wasn't paying attention, but this. _This_ was a glorious symphony of flavor.

Kagami must have been doing that passive-aggressive side-eye that he did sometimes, because when the orgasmic whimpering of Kuroko's tastebuds had died down to a less heavenly height, Kuroko looked up to see Kagami grinning faintly.

"Good?" he asked, lips twitching.

 _Marry me_ , Kuroko said in his mind. _That, or let me handcuff you to my stove for the rest of your life. You can experiment with my new favorite food every day that way._

He barely managed to nod. Wordlessly Kagami opened the rest of his backpack so Kuroko could see more identical containers, each holding another individually wrapped gold mine of culinary perfection. "I was gonna give some to the others, but if you like them so much, you can take the rest home. They're fresh, so they'll keep for a few days." Kuroko contemplated grabbing the pack and running for his life like a fugitive, before reminding himself solemnly that Kagami was _giving_ it to him.

"Really?" he said faintly. In his hands the hamburger looked so innocent. So...unlikely of euphoric levels of high. 

"Really," Kagami answered firmly, eyes locked on the hopeful look on Kuroko's face.

\-----------------

2\. 

"Kise-kun," Kuroko called out to the group lingering at the station entrance. Said-blond turned, a bright greeting on his lips that turned into delighted surprise when he took in Kuroko's appearance.

"Kurokocchi! You dressed up today! For our date!"

Kuroko looked down at himself. So he was in slightly better shape than usual due to the white polo shirt his cousin had given him for his birthday. "Not particularly," he demurred.

"Not a date," Kagami grunted from behind Kuroko.

"And Kagamicchi! Aww, I missed your grumpy face! It's so good to see again!" The blond hugged both of them, only to return to wrap himself octopus-like around Kuroko's arm. Kuroko bore the treatment quietly with the full knowledge that if he tried to shove the blond off, then he would be alternately pouting, sulking, and crying for the rest of the day. Instead, he waited for outside intervention, which came swiftly.

A good kick to the butt sent Kise flying into the stone stairs in front of the station. "So mean!" he wailed as Kaijou's ex-captain stood above him, eyes narrowed and jaw gritted. "I was just greeting Kurokocchi! Because I haven't seen him for a week!"

"We're not here to socialize, we're here to play basketball! Don't treat this like some sort of date!"

"Not a date," Kagami agreed.

Predictably, Kise pouted, but the narrow-eyed glance he shot at Kagami was somewhat more harrowing than Kuroko thought Kagami warranted. Still, in the next minute the blond was bouncing back up. "Have you been to these courts before, Kurokocchi?"

"No - I didn't even know they held street ball tournaments until last week."

Kise hummed happily, though he cringed a little when Kasamatsu paused in the middle of talking to Moriyama to level a warning glance at the blond. "Aominecchi's played a few times with them, it seems. And he tutors basketball there sometimes for the young kids."

Kuroko blinked. "Aomine-kun doesn't seem...usually forthcoming with those kinds of details."

"Yeah, how'd you make him talk?" Kagami added.

Kise shrugged, rolling his eyes easily. "You know, Aominecchi. Susceptible to bribes." At Kuroko and Kagami's blank looks, he clarified, "Perks of modeling. I know Mai-chan, that's all."

"The chick with the big boobs that he's always showing me pictures of?" Kagami guessed, looking somewhat nauseated. He and Kise exchanged exasperated looks over Kuroko's head. "He keeps doing that, like showing me more times is going to make me react differently or something."

"Yes, he's definitely barking up the wrong tree," Kise said levelly. Kuroko thought he was referring more to Kise's obsession with Aomine, but Kagami flushed and muttered something instead. Maybe not.

"Yeah well uh, I wish he'd stop doing it," Kagami recovered clumsily.

However, it seemed Kise wasn't about to let him off the hook just yet. He managed to look both innocent and piercing when he cocked his head to the side and asked, "Are you uncomfortable with being gay, Kagamicchi?"

The redhead spluttered some more. "Wha - you - aren't you - why are Japanese so blunt with the personal stuff!? Geez..." Kise only continued to stare, bemused, while Kagami writhed in discomfort. "I guess...I don't mind. I mean, I might have minded a hundred years ago when people weren't so open. But I don't mind now."

"I guess it helps when there's plenty of eye candy around," Kise commented, saccharine sweet. 

Kagami shot him a darkened look. "You already know I have a...a... _very specific type_."

Kuroko could see Kise attempting to hold back his laughter before it spilled anyway. Whatever thick tension had hovered during Kise's interrogation dissipated, and Kuroko could feel Kagami's shoulders slump in relief. He noticed Kagami always seemed to stick to Kuroko when the other Miracles were around; it was gratifying to be a source of support when Kagami was so clearly twitchy regarding people who were just as, or better, than he was at basketball.

Wordlessly he looked up at Kagami. The redhead had fallen silent though his arm was still pressed against Kuroko's shoulder, as if he could gather the tattered remains of his dignity through that physical contact. 

_Don't worry_ , he wanted to say. _I won't leave you._

As if he heard the unspoken words, Kagami eased, back straightening as they entered the courts.

Aomine was already there, directing a cluster of boys with a clipboard in hand. It was such an incongruous look for him that Kuroko found himself staring. One of the boys made some sort of bratty comment, which made Aomine cuff him lightly on the head as he snarled some sort of command, and the image of a organized, well-mannered Aomine vanished. Kuroko was glad; he wasn't sure he could handle such a personality-180.

His old 'light' looked up at them with a panicked look in his eyes. "Shit - _shit!_ " he swore, diving for his cellphone. "Is it ten already? I don't have the sign-up table ready yet!"

"Good thing I do," Momoi sidled up from nowhere, her own clipboard in hand. Aomine's boys were now set to sweeping pebbles and dejectedly pulling weeds off of the corners until Momoi craned her neck around and screamed, " _AND IF YOU'RE NOT DONE BY THEN I'LL EVISCERATE YOU!_ "

"What's 'eviscerate'?" one of the boys whispered to another.

"It means I'll cut off your man bits to feed to the sharks and you'll never have children."

"Momoi said that last week too. Hey, wait, I thought that was 'castrate'," the boy frowned.

"Momoi- _san_ ," the pink-haired girl griped. "Do I have to teach you common sense and manners on top of how to clean up a basketball court properly?"

"It is," Kuroko answered when the boy wrinkled his nose. "'Eviscerate' is more when you slice a person's stomach so wide their guts spill out." In unison the boys shuddered at Momoi's approving smile of her 'Tetsu-kun's cleverness', and scurried faster.

"Tetsu-kun!" she squealed. Kise looked on enviously as she attached herself to Kuroko's arm. On cue Kasamatsu glared. Thus cowed, Kise wandered away to speak to one of his Kaijou teammates. "It's been so long! Last time was Winter Cup, wasn't it?"

"It was," Kuroko greeted warmly, ignoring the fact that Momoi's grasp around his appendage was slowly and surely cutting off his circulation. "Thank you for having us. Where's the sign-up area?"

Thankfully he was released as he and the others signed in. Aomine's ex-captain, who seemed to have taken over organization for the event if the cowering college students in the corner were any indication, kept him and Kaijou's ex-captain busy filling out forms. The further arrival of more people on court meant he got roped into helping, being one of Aomine's old teammates and all. And of course, Wakamatsu looked so harried at Imayoshi's orders that it would have been cruel not to lend them a hand, especially since Kuroko didn't mind.

Which was why he only heard the tail end of Kagami's interrogation on both sides by the dream tag-team of Aomine and Momoi. 

"Yeah well, it's not like _you_ deserve him either," Aomine sulked. On the Richter scale of protests, Kuroko had to give that a three; Aomine always did make a splendidly lackluster bad-cop, mostly because he never seriously applied himself to it.

On the other hand, Momoi took to being good-cop a little too well. "It's not so much a matter of deserving or undeserving. Tetsu-kun needs somewhere that will nurture him, and that's not Seirin."

 _Ouch._ "There's no guarantee you guys won't fuck him over twice either," Kagami pointed out.

"That would be all Daiki, and it won't happen anymore because he knows what he did wrong the first time. And as I said before, there also is no need for you to use crude language like that in front of a lady," Momoi countered sweetly.

Kagami blew out a breath. "You hang out with this guy all the time, and you never complain about him."

"He's Dai-chan, he's incorrigible. On the other hand, should you be using such language in front of Tetsu-kun? Unlike you louts, he was never one to drop the f-bomb."

"Language has nothing to do with it!" "If he cared, he would say something." Aomine and Kagami protested together.

"Quite true," Kuroko butted in before the conversation could degenerate into further insults. The one time Kagami had fended off Aomine's accusations of him having a promiscuous childhood in America by shouting he was a virgin to all and sundry was quite enough. The hilarity of the situation, once it wore off, only proved to Kuroko that Aomine was still unnecessarily needling of Kagami's faults, fueled by the bitterness he felt when he was accused on all sides of being a bad partner.

Kuroko, for his part, was trying his best to be a good one. He offered his shoulder to Kagami, who nudged it wordlessly back.

"Like Momoi-san, I've long given up. But even I have to say Kagami-kun is a bit better than Aomine-kun," Kuroko continued.

Aomine scoffed. "That's because he's a fucking girl with the way he cooks."

Kuroko resisted the urge to spill about the stomach ache he had gotten from consuming one too many of Kagami's wonderful hamburgers. "Aomine-kun should be jealous, not only because Kagami has one more skill that attracts modern girls that you doesn't have, but also because you don't get fresh food whenever you want."

"I've had that shit, it's not so good. Average," Aomine gritted out.

"That's because Kagami-kun has never actually tried for you."

Momoi looked torn. "It _is_ a desirable skill..."

"I could teach you, if you like," Kagami said in that earth-shatteringly easy way of his.

Aomine lifted his eyebrows. "You, voluntarily spending more time with us, your rivals?"

On the outset, Kagami looked a little miffed at having his gift thrown back, but eventually the words trickled down to regular Aomine-speak. "It's important to, y'know, understand where your partner's coming from."

Aomine and Momoi glanced at each other for a long minute until Momoi said, "Okay. But only if Tetsu-kun comes too."

"I'll come." As if he would pass up the chance to eat Kagami's food.

"It's a deal, then." And though Kagami looked like he was headed out to fight five lions at once, Kuroko also knew that undaunted look said he would win this battle, or die trying. It was a look he particularly liked, which never failed to make him smile in return when he saw it.

\-------------------

3.

"Um." Kagami's voice was crackly through the phone.

"Kagami-kun, we're supposed to be asleep," Kuroko admonished.

"I told you, I can never sleep the night before games."

"If you did, you would do better during the game itself."

"I don't feel tired during them," Kagami defended himself.

"It's still not healthy to crash like you do afterwards."

"I might be able to do it if someone was there to help me," Kagami mumbled, probably unconsciously and not for Kuroko to hear.

Unfortunately for him, Kuroko heard it anyway. "Are you accusing me of not doing enough, Kagami-kun?"

"No! No. Just..." There was a sigh from the other end. "I wonder if there's some sort of solution for this that I haven't discovered yet. I just think someone else will have a better chance of thinking of something. Do you think I should ask the coach? She seems like the type to understand insomnia."

"No," Kuroko said flatly. "You shouldn't bother her with even more problems, you know she's very busy."

"I haven't been able to sleep before a game since I was in America with Tatsuya. Even street ball tournaments." Kagami confessed.

The sound of that name sent a sting of urgency through Kuroko. He threw off his blankets, and the gust of cold spring air made his hair stand on end. He calculated the odds of creeping out of the house at - he checked the clock with a growing sense of disbelief - three AM as probably quite successful, given his mother slept like the dead and his father snored like he could wake them.

Which was how he found himself standing in Kagami's apartment an hour later, gym bag in hand. "It would be warmer and didn't you say you wanted to find a cure for your insomnia? Maybe sleeping with someone else is that solution," Kuroko argued.

Kagami only flushed and waved his hand towards the bedroom. "Um, yeah uh, or it could _not_ be. Either way, you take the bed tonight, Kuroko."

"You mean this morning."

Kagami slumped down onto the couch that he had made up roughly with spare linens and blankets. "I said I was sorry for waking you."

"But you're not sorry for preventing me from doing what I came here to do."

Kagami blew out a frustrated huff. "It's just not proper!" he argued back.

"Proper for what? We've slept next to each other before during team retreats. What's so different about it now?"

Kagami hunched into the blankets. "We were in the room with ten other guys then. I'm just saying... It's not proper cuz we're not - _y'know_." It was the closest he had ever gotten to actually acknowledging what was between them.

 _If y'know is a seriously problematic codependency that I've never felt with anyone else, we've already in the land of over the commitment rainbow_, he thought. _If y'know means dreading the day I can't look forward to seeing you drooling in the pillow in the morning...if y'know means standing close enough to feel your heat in winter...if y'know means coming over at three AM because you can't sleep...then, I have been well and completely flushed down the drain already...as y'know._

He reached out to touch Kagami's shoulder - the redhead always melted when he did it, and now Kuroko used that shamelessly - and coaxed, "I don't care about proper anything, as long as I'm a proper partner to you."

Kagami fought with himself a second more - Kuroko could almost see _awkward morning wood_ floating above his head - before he reluctantly gave in. "The bed's a queen anyway," he reasoned hesitantly.

"But it becomes smaller when you cuddle up to me at night," Kuroko pointed out.

"Err, yeah. That's why I offered to take the couch in the first place."

Kuroko felt he should have been annoyed - he was a guy too, he could protect himself from unwanted advances, thank you very much - but instead he felt a searing, soul-deep lightning bolt of tenderness. Maybe this was what being courted by a chivalrous Western knight was supposed to be like. "Let's go," he said, and ushered Kagami towards the bedroom.

Awkwardly the redhead lay on one side and Kuroko on the other. Only their shoulders touched a little. Kuroko waited, heart thudding hard in his chest. He was very good at the waiting game, but even if he wasn't Kagami was always more impatient than he was.

"Um, do you mind...?" Every stutter he made over the words, rippled through the mattress. Since they were shrouded in pitch black, Kuroko let himself smile.

"Mind what, Kagami-kun?"

"Do you...Can I..." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I cuddled you inappropriately or something."

Kuroko took pity on the defeatist tone, and rolled over into Kagami's waiting shoulder. It was warm and smelled like good things, tasty things. Kuroko put his nose right to it, not caring if he couldn't breathe. "Please try to go to sleep, Kagami-kun," he said, voice muffled.

Kagami's arm folded slowly around him. "Yeah," he breathed an octave higher than usual, but Kuroko didn't hear. He was already asleep.

\---------------

4\. 

Kuroko blinked as the ball that he had missed and bounced off of the rim was picked up by the person who had just entered the court. "Kagami-kun," he said with some surprise, taking in the redhead's haggard look. "We didn't expect you here today."

"Where's the squinty bastard?" Kagami asked, a touch of his usual aggressiveness returning.

"Aomine-kun is buying drinks for himself and me."

A bottle of Pokari was shoved his way. "Here. No need to wait."

"I couldn't let Aomine-kun just waste money..." Kuroko demurred.

"Then call him."

Kuroko did, and received no answer, so he went ahead and drank. The two of them sat back down on the bleachers, waiting.

"When did you guys get here, anyway?" Kagami asked at last.

"Six or so. Aomine-kun was late, but I forgive him. He was volunteering before this."

"It's weird that guy gets along so well with kids. Or maybe, not so weird, given his mental abilities."

"Kagami-kun isn't much better," Kuroko pointed out.

At that, Kagami sighed and ducked his head to his knees, bottle held out in front of him. "I know," he said heavily, like he had done it a hundred times before. Which it was possible he had.

"Hyuuga-buchou let you off early?" Kuroko prompted as gently as he could.

Kagami sighed again. "Worse. He said...he said I was hopeless, Kuroko."

"You're not hopeless, or else he wouldn't expend the energy to tutor you. He would just go and find another power forward."

"And risk kicking the next Interhigh to the curb? As he says, I'm not that smart, but even I know the odds when Aomine and Midorima and every single Miracle is going to show me up on the next round."

"Show 'us' up," Kuroko corrected. "You're not in this alone, Kagami. You have Seirin. You have me."

"Do I?" Kagami asked suddenly, and then looked like he regretted saying so. "I mean - sorry. You don't have to answer that."

"Of course I do, I'm your partner. It's my job to reassure you when you're feeling down. And now I unveil the truth...I want this, I want to be here, as long as you keep cooking for me."

Kagami chortled at that, his breath making white puffs in the air. "Keeping me around for the food, huh? I guess what they say is true - the way to a man is through his stomach." And then he looked embarrassed, but not fully repentant. Kuroko liked that sneaky look. He liked all of Kagami's looks, really.

"Alas," he deadpanned. "You've found me out."

"Hey! You two done flirting or what?" Takao strode back from the door, Midorima in tow (ineffectively trying unsuccessfully to jerk away from Takao's iron grip). Behind them sauntered Aomine, who was juggling a half dozen drinks. "We weren't sure what to get because _some people_ think everyone likes oshiruko," he gave a pointed glance at his own partner, "so we got a bit of everything. There's one for you too, Kagami, if you want it."

"Sure," Kagami said easily. Takao threw him a can that was black. Kagami turned it around to see the brand and then dropped it with a yelp.

"Something wrong, moron?" Aomine smirked.

"You gave me this on purpose!" Kagami held up the can so that the advertisement for the new "The Ring 3" movie was clearly visible.

Aomine picked his ear jauntily. "Hey, it's not my fault it's hilarious that you're afraid of ghosts. The fraternal twins here think so too." He jerked his thumb at the two Shuutoku teammates, of which only Takao responded with, "Hey! We're not twins!"

"How'd you know I was here anyway," Kagami grumbled into his drink.

"Saw your captain hanging around at the park entrance. I think he was looking for you - chances are he'll show up soon. Said something about ditching tutoring."

As Kuroko turned a baleful glare at his 'light', Kagami held up his hands. "I swear, I didn't skip! He let me go free - that rat bastard's lying!"

"Who's a rat bastard!?" Aomine demanded.

"Who the hell else has squinty eyes like a freaking rat!"

"What was that, you moron! I saw your test scores - you must have an IQ of negative five if you answered Minamoto no Yoritomo lived in the Edo Period!"

"I lived in the US while everyone was learning that shit - do _you_ know when the American Declaration of Independence was written? I do!"

"That shit's useless here! Get with the program, idiot!"

"You're the fucking idiot, jerkface!"

"Dickwad!"

"Douchebag!"

"Pot and kettle," Takao sang.

"We are _not alike_!" Aomine and Kagami yelled in unison.

"Hey!" Hyuuga yelled over them from the entrance to the courts. "Kagami, you. Get over here to finish your tutoring now. I may have let you go early but I changed my mind - you'll learn Japanese history if I have to tie you to the desk to do it."

"Kinky!" Takao sang again.

"Ugh, that's disgusting!" "Takao, shut up." "Ew, the captain? Hell no!" Kagami walked off his jitters in a circle, shuddering the whole time.

"Some time _this century_ , Kagami!" Hyuuga bellowed, ignoring the whispers. 

Kagami gathered up his bag and paused next to Kuroko. He spent a long moment measuring Kuroko's face as if imprinting it into his memory. Then he reached out and kind of...patted Kuroko's shoulder awkwardly while everyone watched. "Sorry I didn't get to practice with you after all," he muttered. "Sorry I'm not smart enough on the get-go to know this stuff so I can spend more time with you."

"Make-up tests and irate captains wait for no one, Kagami-kun," Kuroko advised sternly. "Study hard."

Kagami winced, but obediently trotted up to his captain. For a moment Hyuuga looked as if he might smack the back of his head, but after a quick glance back at Kuroko, he relented and prodded Kagami roughly out of the park. "I'll return him on Monday," he barked back at Kuroko, who nodded.

After both of them were out of eyeshot and earshot, Takao's head whipped back to Kuroko. "He so, so has a crush on you," he gushed. "When are you gonna _move_ , man? It's been months!"

Kuroko was very well aware of the pool going on for when he and Kagami would finally get together, though he wasn't exactly sure how the members of the pool planned to prove they were an item. Kuroko suspected Akashi and body language reading was involved. "All in due time," he answered serenely to two groans and one grumpy "Hmph" from Midorima.

As his friends bickered over his head, he wished Kagami silently _And good luck_.

\-----------------

5\. 

"No," Kuroko said serenely from the hospital bed.

"No my _ass_. Even that squinty-eyed bastard backs me up on this one! The fact you got hit by a car -"

" _Grazed_ ," Kuroko insisted.

"- _whatever!_ \- got hit by a car is because you were walking in the middle of nowhere with no mirrors and no streetlamps so the car came too fast and you got hit trying to save some dumbass kid from pancake-ing on the pavement -"

"His name is Kenta."

"- you think I care what his name is?" Kagami hissed, obviously in full swing. "What I care about is that _he_ was too stupid to watch for speeding cars and _you_ had to go save his stupid junior high school ass like some sort of living body shield -"

"Then I would be a linebacker, not a basketball player," Kuroko commented wryly.

"- he was stupid and this is his fault, his fault for being stupid and standing there like some sort of idiot deer in headlights, like he was waiting for that fucktardic car to bash him to pieces -"

"Everything's fine," Kuroko said firmly, hand tightening on Kagami's arm. The redhead's throat worked but after a moment, he shut his mouth. His eyes were burning in that way Kuroko didn't see often off the court, burning with pent-up energy and frustration. After a moment he wrenched his arm away and the loss of contact was a cold slap to the face.

"You could have died," Kagami croaked finally. 

"But I didn't," Kuroko reminded him.

"You could have!" Kagami exploded.

"But I _didn't_."

Kagami was already muttering other depreciating things about Kuroko's love of heroism. "Comes from all those stupid Shounen Jump mangas you read," he huffed. "Putting stupid ideas in your head. You're not some hero in a manga, Kuroko - you're a living, breathing human. You're not a rubber Pirate King or a representative Death God. You're not an orange ninja or a genius with a killer notebook. _You're just a normal basketball player._ "

"And your partner," Kuroko softly added.

With his back to Kuroko, Kagami took one shuddering breath, and then another. "If you really were, you wouldn't fucking worry me like this."

"If you were, you would be able to accept my heroic tendencies as something inevitable," Kuroko mimicked.

"I'd rather punch the guy that hit you," Kagami snarled, full of righteous fury. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, the corded muscles of his forearms bulging and twisting, his spine strung tight. "I'd rather punch that stupid kid for not having any common sense to look both ways. I'd rather _leave the country_ than see you brought low, Kuroko."

"You'd leave me here?" Kuroko queried. "Alone, by myself?"

Abruptly the anger drained away, leaving only a regular, tired Kagami behind. The moment stretched long like a super rubber band over the distance between them. Compared to the accident, the way his heart beat now was much harder, much more erratic. 

Kuroko waited for the words that would seal his fate, waited for them to drop -

Kagami crossed the room in two strides and took his hand. "I couldn't do that," he blurted. "I couldn't - I could never do that." He slumped onto a corner of the bed and now Kuroko could feel the seizing of those powerful hands for himself, blunt fingertips wrapped around his. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll never leave you."

He fought the urge to smack his chest, because there was no way it was healthy for his heart to be pounding this hard. Words flew up like paper talismans, only to crumble to ashes in his mouth.

In the end he only lifted his hand, and shivered when Kagami bent his cheek against it.

\----------------------

+1

The third time Kagami stepped in front of him, Kuroko couldn't hold back the impulse anymore. He jabbed his fingers as hard as he could into Kagami's ribs and watched in full satisfaction as his partner gave a pained yowl.

"OW! Fuck, Kuroko! What the hell!"

"You're in my way."

The street ball games all around them stopped to stare as Kagami rubbed his abused right side, glowering. "In your way of what?" he sulked.

"In my line of shot. I was trying to pass to Izuki-sempai." And it was a good one too, one that potentially would have gotten them a three-pointer once Izuki passed to Hyuuga. "I understand this is my first time back on the court after my convalescence, but Kagami-kun shouldn't worry. I was there for only one night. You even heard the doctor say my injuries were minor."

"I don't trust him," Kagami grumbled, looking askance at Tsugawa, who wound his body back and forth, a winning smile on his face. "Those bastards played dirty last time, and that was with the teachers watching. Who knows what they're gonna do at a street ball game?"

"That doesn't give you permission to hover. Please don't do that on the court, it will just be embarrassing when I disappear on you."

"You'd use misdirection your own partner!?"

"If he was being annoying enough."

Kagami stumped and harrumphed. The other players had taken a clue from Hyuuga and were now taking a much-needed break on the sidelines. Momoi, who was their official scorekeeper, was unofficially taping every move Kagami made on the court, including at this moment when he was blowing steam from his nostrils like some sort of demented red dragon. "I can't believe you'd do that," he tried to call Kuroko's bluff.

"I can't believe Kagami-kun could be so annoying."

"I can't believe you'd abuse your so-called 'light', especially when I still have the power to withhold hamburgers. And give them to other people."

Kuroko gave him an affronted look. "I can't believe my own partner would let Seirin lose just to satisfy his completely unnecessary urges to helicopter-parent _someone who is totally healthy_."

"I can't believe I put up with you all the time!" Kagami threw up his hands in despair.

"Well, you know what they say," Kuroko answered wryly. "They say that's love."

In the gobsmacked silence that followed, Kagami paused in mid-action, arms still raised as his neck craned by incremental centimeters back towards Kuroko's face. There may have been some bated breaths from the peanut gallery of exactly two girls and one blond model, all of which were crowded around the video camera. The rest of the onlookers just started exchanging money.

"What did you say?" Kagami whispered.

Kuroko considered. Weighed the consequences of acting. Balanced the mental checkbook of not-acting. Then decided, _To hell with it_ , and reached up to pull Kagami's shirt-front down to his level. Their lips met and Kagami's eyes bulged and for one moment the kiss was horrible, Kagami's hands flailing like windmills, only Kuroko's iron grip holding him in place. Then abruptly he melted, pulling his partner close with a sigh that Kuroko swallowed, and the balloonish feeling of euphoria spread tingly and bright all the way down to Kuroko's toes.

Just like he wasn't sure how many minutes had passed since they had started kissing, he wasn't sure when they stopped. Only when Kagami asked, "Are we ready for this?" did he realize that they had.

Wait. Backtrack. He gave Kagami his best severe look of disapproval. "Are you doubting my timing, Kagami-kun?"

"We've kind of been stepping around this for a while," Kagami hedged.

"Isn't is more like Kagami-kun to seize the moment?"

"Don't exclude yourself out of that category, Kuroko. You're as impulsive as the rest of us."

"I'm only impulsive when it's something I really want. Or when I know I'm going to win. Or, maybe both."

"Gee, I'm thrilled. I'm now a 'maybe'."

"No, you're not. I've had time to think about this, Kagami-kun. I can trace my love for you back to the first night I said I would help you become the best player in Japan. It was just like tipping the first tile in a line of dominoes after that."

Kagami frowned. "I don't get it."

"I mean, we've reached the end of the line. There was much miscommunication and pining on the way, but I have discovered I am now deeply, irrevocably in love with Kagami-kun. So in love, in fact, I may die without your brilliant light," Kuroko deadpanned, much to the amusement of the rest of the team, if the snickers were anything to go by. 

Kagami reddened as the peanut gallery noticed they were holding hands and started squealing. "You always say such embarrassing stuff with a straight face like that. And the worst part is you actually mean it," he stomped over to their bags on the bench, pulling Kuroko with him all the way. "You're more shameless than any person I've met, ever."

Kuroko let it go. His partner could say what he liked, even if it wasn't exactly the words Kuroko had been waiting for. He smiled faintly over the newly-bitten crescent in his hamburger, and reasoned _After all, Kagami-kun has done it many, many times already._


End file.
